Good Tidings This Christmas!!!

What a wonderful Christmas it has been... but I think no matter what we do, it is always a wonderful Christmas! For Christmas Eve we went to Todds parents house and had dinner and played white elephant with gifts that we found around the house! Its pretty fun just to see what everyone gives out! I cooked dinner, which was so much fun! It turned out pretty scrumptious if I do say so myself! I guess you can say it was a first to cook for the "big" Christmas meal.

Here are the grand kids eating their dinner.

Then the best part of the night is when Todd's mom gave us all of our "special" gifts which were individual quilts that she handmade. They were all gorgeous and so unique! Every one absolutely loved them! Thank you so much Lori, we love them!

Once we went home, Todd and his brother put Berkeley's toys together, which was the first of many Christmas Eves to come in our house. I thought it was SO cute.... the beginning of the toy era.
Christmas day we went to Todd's parents house again, then to his grandparents, then to the movie National Treasure, and then finally home. It was a great day! Here are some pictures of Berkeley's new favorite things and our sweet little family!

This picture I had to use my camera timer...hence the off balance, and just ignore Todd wearing one of my necklaces!!
Merry Christmas!

Christmas Season

The other night we had a fun family get together at my cousins house and I was able to see my other cousin that I don't get to see very often. We had fun together, minus the baby injuries, but it was just what I needed for a fun family Christmas get together! I love Christmas time how it makes you just want to be around family and friends. It gives me warm and fuzzy feelings inside!

Here are my cousins and I at delicious Oregano's... my favorite restaurant EVER!!

Here is just a funny picture of Berkeley. She LOVES Teletubbies (so creepy, I know) and this is her just lounging, enjoying a good flick.

Brrr....It's Cold Outside!

It is currently 55 degrees here in Mesa and we are COLD! I woke up this morning to fog everywhere and I absolutely loved it! During the 4 years that I have lived here there has never ONCE been fog, so you can see my excitement. It felt like I was in a different place. I couldn't ask for better weather for the Christmas season, it really makes it feel like its here. So now when Berkeley goes out to play I have to bundle her up and she does not seem to mind. Today she was just glad to get out of the house because yesterday it rained ALL day! Thank you rain clouds for making my day just a little bit better!

Night In Pasadena

Tonight I got to hang out with my high school girl friends. Its so fun when we get together because it does not happen that often. We went to downtown Pasadena and went to dinner and walked around the shops. It was FREEZING! It was about 50 degrees, but it felt like 40.... I secretly think it was. We had a lot of fun and good conversation. I'm glad that I still keep in touch with these girls for so long, because they are a part of what feels like my long lost life known as high school, so its always fun to reminisce.

Time Back Home

It is day 4 here in good ol' Whittier California. I am here taking care of my mom as she recovers from a small little surgery. Because I am her caretaker I haven't been doing tons, but it has been very fulfilling and enjoyable. I have been making dinner every night (does not happen too often) and cleaning up, and waking up at 7 every day because Berkeley decided she is not going to be a good sleeper this week. We have been sleeping in the same room, so if she makes any sounds it wakes me up, and all I want to do is go back to sleep. So she has been waking up at like 5 each morning, so she comes in bed with me, which is a first. She NEVER sleeps in my bed, and I'm not going to lie, I love it. I totally spoon ( the best we can considering she is like a third my size) with her and cuddle with her, but I am just getting the memo that kids move around way too much when they sleep, but I love it. Another out of ordinary thing that I did is I bought fabric to make....yes I said make, Berkeley's Christmas dress. My mom always did it for us, and I thought it would be fun one year to do that. So it is in the works right now. My mom is going to help me of course, because I don't dare do it all on my own! The last good thing that has been happening is I finally got to start reading the ever so popular books about the teenage vampires. Its pretty good, I'm not going to lie! I haven't gotten to the die hard addiction point yet, but its good. I guess that I am away from my tivo I am finally getting in some good reading!

Why Do I Love Family Pictures SO Much?!?

My Best Gift Ever

Its pretty funny. Being a mom of one baby does not require tons of time, but of course it is the most fulfilling thing. If you know me well, then you know that I often complain about not being busy enough. Lately I have been very busy and I am realizing that I am not focusing on what is most important. I was sitting here thinking I had nothing to blog about, then realized that there are so many things that Berkeley is doing and saying that is so cute and sweet and makes her her....

• When we play patty cake she does all the actions with me and ALWAYS tosses in the oven about 30 seconds early every time because she is so excited to do it.
• Her new favorite is Itsy Bitsy Spider and she tries to do the spider, and her little hands trying to do it are the cutest ever!
• She LOVES to give kisses.....all the time.
• She will tickle you and say something like ticka ticka ticka
• She pooped in the bath tub yesterday and on the carpet today. I had her diaper off for literally 30 seconds and she had just the right timing.
• Every time she sees a picture of herself or of another baby she immediately has to kiss it, and there is a picture of her on our computer, so she always tries to kiss it causing a small disaster to soon follow after.
• She is obsessed with buttons....she turns off the TV and computer a couple times a day and it drives me NUTS but luckily she has her pointer finger out ready to go for a long time, so we kind of get a warning.

I am so thankful for being a mother and Berkeley brings me so much joy. I need to always remember that that is the most important thing and comes before going out to lunch, hanging out with friends, cleaning, running errands and anything else that comes my way!

Hearts and Rainbows

On Thanksgiving day my grandma suprised me with some of my childhood drawings. They were pretty funny. I was totally in a "heart" and "rainbow" phase back in the day.

This is Berkeley and her little friend Hadli. They get to play together all the time and have so much fun together. When they see each other they get super excited and start to spazz out. This is them giving each other hugs.

This was them doing some serious baby wrestling

Hanging out outside....no Berkeley had not been in her pj's all day long!!! :)

I Have The Best One!

I know that everyone always thinks that their husband is the best and that their husband is so smart and so talented. But I seriously have one of the best. Todd has amazed me and many other people immensely in the past year. He is currently in the Business school at ASU finishing up his degree with a 3.8 GPA, applying for Law Schools including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, USC, UCLA, NYU, Columbia, and some others, taking an LSAT class that is 4 times a week,running a home building business, building town homes, being a primary teacher, and on top of that being a GREAT husband, father, friend, son, and brother.

The greatest of Todd has come out though with his business. They have been building town homes and Todd's dad is developing them, so Todd has not only been running the build side of it all, but has also helped a lot with the development and other aspects of the whole project. Through it all, Todd has shown so much knowledge and maturity beyond his years and has been one of the most vital people of the whole project.

I don't mean to brag or boast, I just want to say how thankful I am for such a strong man by my side that I know will always take care and love me, and always be doing things above and beyond what is expected.

My Kid is so Awesome

This is Berkeley's new seat that she sits on when she is watching her new favorite thing Barney. She sat here for like 20 minutes today.

Berkeley's other favorite thing is to get into my bathroom cupboards. This is how I found her today.

This is her so stoked to have her new clothes on from Nana. Thanks Nana!!!

Mohawk Child

I Have, like, a Totally Cool Dad

My dad is on the very far right.Note: my dad is a convert, hence the budweiser ad.
My Dad on the very left.


How many people can say that their dad "used" to be in a band? Not too many, and I am one of those lucky people that can say that they do. This is why, my dad is so awesome. He is awesome in many other ways too...but this is just the best. My dad did his group thing for a while, like 5 or 6 years, and he did while he had 3 kids. But he loved it. He was, and still is, an amazing banjo player, and a guitar player, not to mention plays a little piano, and is an amazing singer and performer. I love my dad...he is a very talented and sweet man.

The Night I Wished I was in the 80's

Berkeley and her cousins.

My niece Rilee, she was the game twister. And yes of course I did right hand yellow on yellow!

Let me explain my outfit....of course, 80's inspiration, with a twist of inspiration from Madonna and Cindi Lauper, and poof you have my Halloween costume. The best part is though, that at my brothers party that I went to, I was the only adult that had on a costume out of about 30 other adults. Oh well, I'm confident! Berkeley enjoyed the night of fun and chaos. She did a little trick or treating, but couldn't handle too much.And of course, she was cute as always. By the way....notice the "hair" I tried to do. I attempted the feathered look, but couldn't accomplish the largeness of it. It was a fun attempt, and I don't know how ANYONE could have done their hair like that and feel pretty!

I Love Halloween!

Seriously, I love Halloween. It is such a good holiday for ALL ages. It starts out as a kid when you are so excited for your costume, showing it off at school, and then best of all, you finally get free reign to eat as much candy as you want! Then you get in the teenager/single mode when you get to go to awesome Halloween parties with your friends....and its awesome. Then there is the awkward stage where your married/in a relationship, but with no kids, and your not really sure what exactly to do. Then the best stage of all, when you have kids and dress them up, go trick or treating with them, dress up with them, and then eat ALL of their candy. So bottom line, I love Halloween!

Those are my pumpkins I made by myself last night. Sorry about the blurry picture, my camera is sometimes a little too high tech for me. After making them and loving how they turned out, I have been really tempted to go buy a couple more, just to carve some really cool things!

By the way.... how about the serious awkwardness that goes on Halloween day when you see lots of adults going to lunch and going about their business in Halloween costumes....ALL DAY LONG! And you cant really take them seriously..... awkward!

My Walking Pink Poodle

Once Again I Need Some Opinions!

Just Call Me Money Bags

Yesterday I decided to finally gather up all my spare change and cash it in. We had a huge mug full, and 2 separate drawers full, which all had been accumulating for quite some time. It filled up the 2 bags as you can see.....it weighed in at 14 pounds.....and the grand total........

$112

And that is after the coin machine took out 8%! Spare change is the best thing in the world! So we treated ourselves with our new found fortune and we went to the AZ State Fair, which was SOOO fun. We went with Todd's little brother Ashton and 2 of his friends. Todd and Ashton didn't go on any "big kid" rides, but I still went on a lot, and I'm not going to lie, I had a HUGE headache when I got home! But it was still worth it!

Trip to the Thrift Store

I cannot remember the last time I was at a thrift store, but today I went and it was pretty awesome. I was in search of a cool unique end table,( which I found, but that will be shown later so I can have the before and after) and I found this. A Christmas Tree. I was so excited to see it because growing up I would help my grandma set up her Christmas decorations up each year and she had one of these and it was my FAVORITE because I loved to put up all the individual lights. So now I have my very own and I will think of her every time I see it. It is about 12 inches tall, and I had to steal those little lights from some of the other trees to get a full tree for me, but it was worth it! Oh, and $4 was a little help too! But....(wink wink) I am still hoping to someday get the real authentic one that I have so many memories with! (wink wink)

Pumpkin Patch

No....I'm not the cheesy mom that puts her kid in Halloween clothes when she goes to the pumpkin patch! Who do you think I am?!?